Shapoorji Pallonji group closes ₹21,350 crore fundraise; Desai & Diwanji, TT&A advise

The Shapoorji Pallonji group has raised ₹21,350 crore by issuance of unrated, unlisted, secured, zero coupon, redeemable non-convertible debentures of Eqyizen Investment Private Limited, a promoter group entity of SP group.

The INR NCDs were secured by, among others, part of SP groups’ shareholding in Afcons Infrastructure Limited and 50% of SP group’s shareholding in Tata Sons Private Limited.

Desai & Diwanji advised Eqyizen Investment on this NCD issuance, while A&O Shearman acted as the English legal counsel for Eqyizen Investment.

TT&A advised Deutsche Bank A.G which served as the coordinating bank on the NCD issuance. The Firm also advised the bank on acting as a placement agent in relation to the issuance of US$ 650 milliin 14.5% senior, secured, unrated notes due 2029 by Mercury Finance Company. The proceeds of the USD Notes were primarily utilized for subscribing to a part of the INR NCDs.

The TT&A team included:

Banking & Finance: Sonali Mahapatra (Partner), Kartik Jigyasi (Managing Associate), Associates Adesh Sharma, Anushree Verma, Kashish Agarwal and Tarun Doyal;

Debt Capital Markets: Rahul Gulati (Partner), Priyanka Kumar (Partner), Saara Ahmed (Managing Associate) and Shrijaya Singh (Associate).

Linklaters acted as the English legal counsel for Deutsche Bank A.G on these transactions.

Appleby acted as the Mauritian legal counsel for Mercury Finance Company.

This is one of the largest private credit deals in India to date and attracted significant interest from onshore and offshore private credit investors. The transaction is notable for its bespoke financing structure, which combines INR non-convertible debentures and USD bonds to meet Shapoorji Pallonji group’s funding objectives.

The funds will be utilized for refinancing of existing debt of other SP group entities, and to fund group entities for their capital requirements.

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